NBA Elite 11 Preview

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We play a full game for the very first time.

By Nate Ahearn

I first got my hands on the new right analog stick controls of NBA Elite 11 at this year's E3 in a demo that was nothing more than one player versus another. It was a good introductory to using the right stick for everything from shooting to dribbling moves but left a big question mark in terms of what a real game would feel like. Last week at EA's Redwood Shores studios, I got the chance to play a full five-on-five game and I came away excited by the potential the gameplay changes bring to the overall package.

As I'm sure you know by now, the controls of NBA Elite have been totally remapped since last year's NBA Live 10. The right stick is getting the same treatment that EA Sports' NHL series got so many years ago. The result is an NBA game that feels much more responsive than it has in the past. Every flick of the stick results in either a cool dribble animation or shot and while the early version of the game that I saw didn't stack up very well against NBA 2K11 in terms of authentic player animations, I've gotta say that the responsive of the controls shows a lot of potential for this year as well as years to come.

He will own you.

That said, the five-on-five gameplay still needs some polish before consumers take to the court. I had no problem breaking ankles left and right with crossover moves and nailing outside jumpers with the right analog felt much easier than when I saw the game at E3. The shooting is all supposed to be skill-based, so I'm either an extraordinarily talented NBA Elite player or the difficulty needs some tuning. I'm betting on the latter. EA Sports has assured me that they're in the midst of finding the sweet spot when it comes to overall difficulty, so don't pass judgment until we get our hands on a final build to see if it's been fixed.

Another issue I had with my first five-on-five experience was that there was never an incentive to run plays or to incorporate the rest of my team to succeed. Again, I'm sure this will change as the development team tunes the overall gameplay, but for now the five-on-five felt more like a one-on-one affair with my point guard dribbling up court, pulling a few cool moves on his defender, then draining a typically open jumper.

Going for the steal.

Thankfully the final product is aiming to incorporate some cool physics-based defensive abilities that will hopefully constrain players' abilities to dribble their way into the lane each and every time down the court. I saw one instance where a player tried to pull a hard drive to the lane, only to have the ball glance off the defender's knee and into the hands of the opposition.

There are moments of brilliance in NBA Elite 11, that's to be sure. I feel like the title has a lot of potential to become something great, but it's going to take some work on the part of EA Sports to tighten up the whole package before October 5 hits. We'll have more on NBA Elite 11 in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to IGN.com.